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<p>HAGERSTOWN, Md. – Agathe von Trapp, a member of the musical family whose escape from Nazi-occupied Austria was the basis for "The Sound of Music," has died, a longtime friend said Wednesday.</p> <p>Von Trapp, 97, died Tuesday at a hospice in the Baltimore suburb of Towson after suffering congestive heart failure in November, said Mary Louise Kane. Kane and von Trapp lived together for five decades and ran a kindergarten at the Sacred Heart Catholic parish in nearby Glyndon until 1993.</p>

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The movie cast of "The Sound of Music" are reuniting for the first time in 45 years, with Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer joining their seven fictional children in an October appearance on Oprah Winfrey's TV talk show, producers said on Monday. Andrews, Plummer, Charmian Carr (Liesl), and the actors who played the six other von Trapp family children will talk about making the 1965 Oscar-winning movie and their lives since it went on to become one of the most popular movie musicals ever. The reunion will be broadcast on October 29 on "The Oprah Winfrey...

  Recently my family and I watched The Sound of Music for perhaps the twelfth time -- probably the last great musical that Hollywood ever produced. It made me wonder if I could list the reasons why such a movie could not now be made. These reasons I offer below; but it seems to me that they can all be united under the single assertion that the intellectual, imaginative, and emotional palette of the American people has suffered a terrible constriction, a reduction to the tedium of lust and greed and the thirst for power. It is not so...

Usually around this time of year the Sound of Music comes on television. I don't know how many times I've seen it. This year I have a special affinity for Captain von Trapp. He was so disgusted, so alienated, so melancholy as he watched helplessly as the Austria he knew and loved so much succumb to the New Order of the Third Reich. Yes, I can relate this. I feel much the same way about my own country these days.

SALZBURG, Austria (Reuters) - Maria von Trapp has taken a trip down memory lane to see her old family home just before it opens as a new hotel. Staying in the house for the first time since the von Trapps fled the Nazi regime in the late 1930s has been a deeply moving experience for the second-eldest daughter of Baron von Trapp, whose story was made famous by the "Sound of Music" film. "Our whole life is in here, in this house," the 94-year-old told Reuters in an interview. "Especially here in the stairwell, where we always used to slide...

LOS ANGELES -- Robert Wise, who won four Oscars as producer and director of the classic 1960s musicals "West Side Story" and "The Sound of Music," has died. He was 91. Wise died Wednesday of heart failure after falling ill and being rushed to the University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center, family friend and longtime entertainment agent Lawrence Mirisch told The Associated Press. Mirisch said Wise had appeared in good health when he celebrated his 91st birthday Saturday. Wise was nominated for seven Oscars, including the four he won, during a career that spanned more than 50 years. The...

In a world where the new "Gilligan's Island" features sexual tension between Mary Ann and Ginger, where "The Longest Yard" remake makes "Platoon" look pleasant, where Nicole Kidman can star in the big screen "Bewitched" even though she can barely wiggle her nose, let us do the world a favor: Let us brook no remake of "The Sound of Music." After all, it's not like the 1965 version is boring audiences in its current incarnation. Just mention this movie and people start smiling. Or singing. Or both. Then they start remembering their favorite things ... er ... scenes: The boat...

40 years ago, "The Sound of Music" was not just the summer movie of 1965. It was the spring, fall and winter one, too, and in inflation-adjusted dollars, it remains the third-biggest-grossing film of all time at the domestic box office, according to Box Office Mojo. It hit the Billboard Top 40 video sales chart shortly after it became one of the first movies ever released on home video in 1979 and still holds the chart's longevity record, of more than 300 weeks and counting.

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The Nazis are back in Vienna - at least on stage. But this time there's no doubt that they're the bad guys. The latest look at the country's relationship to Hitler is through the melodic looking glass of "The Sound of Music" - the first full staging in Austria of a musical beloved the world over but virtually unknown in the nation it portrays. After years of denial, official Austria has turned in the past two decades from depicting itself as a victim of Adolf Hitler to acknowledging its key role in the Holocaust. But some...

They rode a bullet train in Japan, held rare New Zealand kiwi birds in their laps and learned how to write their names in Korean this year. They've also performed well over 100 concerts around the world over the past 24 months. It's been a whirlwind year for the four von Trapp children of Kalispell. They arrived home today and will close out the year with a Christmas show at Majestic Valley Arena on Tuesday. "My head is still spinning. It's been an amazing year," said Annie von Trapp, mother of the kids, who are captivating audiences everywhere with the...

Looks like Saddam is doing scenes from Heidi or The Sound of Music rolicking through the mountian meadows.